Unlike my ancient predecessor, this Tullius hasn't had his hands chopped off. With hands attached I offer my thoughts on philosophy, religion, politics, and whatever else I find worth mentioning. I'm conservative religiously and politically (though I have some serious libertarian leanings). I value reason and freedom but also traditions and "Oldthink." I relish being on the wrong side of history when history is wrong--part of a philosopher's job is to be unpopular.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Yes, Virginia, there is a Constitution

Yesterday I was listening to NPR (I think it was Diane Rehm's Friday roundup) and the talking heads were discussing the Virginia federal ruling that overturned Virginia’s ban on
same sex marriage. My interest picked up when someone quoted the judge as saying that “Our Constitution
declares that "all men" are created equal. Surely this means all of us….” The
NPR discussion then turned to speculations about how the Supreme
Court surely won’t overturn so many Federal rulings (it would be too much overturning of overturnings I guess).

Not a single soul, however, mentioned what I
was thinking: The Constitution declares all men are created
equal?? Surely she didn’t say that. Maybe they misheard her. Wait. Maybe they heard correctly. Have any of these jokers ever read the
Constitution (or the Declaration of Independence for that
matter)? I wouldn't bet on it.

But sure enough, this Obama
appointed Judge DID say just that in her opinion:

Pretty embarrassing coming from a federal judge (but I don't expect to hear about it in the mainstream press). Also embarrassing for NPR that no one picked up on it. More evidence for what I've long thought: some liberal court opinions are not bad interpretations of the Constitution; rather, they are not at all interpretations but opinions.